1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system allowing a user to change the orientation of a physical display while the on screen user interface maintains its original orientation and, more particularly, to a system sensing changes in the orientation of the physical display and keeping the user interface aligned with the user as the display orientation changes to thereby maintain position or direction sensitive components of the interface aligned with the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
When drawing, artists typically do not leave their art work in a static position. Human biomechanics make some drawing gestures easier than others. Hence, the artist will shift and/or rotate the art work on the desk top to facilitate drawing. For example, the artist might rotate the drawing into a sideways position so that a downward stroke can be used in a horizontal direction of an animation cell. Some mechanical aids to drawing reflect this need. An example is the Acme animation stand in which a pin-registered plastic animation cell can be rotated for the convenience of the artist. The properties of computer graphics systems to date have meant that this type of manipulation of the art work has not been practical, even though it is desirable.
What is needed is a system that will allow computer graphics systems to have the convenience of a piece of paper.
Display units currently exist, such as the Pivot Display System available from Portrait Displays, in which the orientation of the display can be changed from page to landscape, so that a long axis of a rectangular displayed image can be oriented in two positions, either horizontally or vertically. When the display unit is in the page orientation, the images are displayed in page mode and when the display unit is in the landscape orientation, the images are displayed in landscape mode. In this situation, there are no in between positions and the entire display, including all interface elements, flip from page to landscape. The entire image, including interface elements, is maintained in the same orientation with respect to the user. Such displays only benefit the artist in that they can display the artist's work in either a "landscape" or "portrait" aspect ratio, unlike conventional monitors that display only one or the other. The aspect ratio of the display can match that of the art. However, this type of system does not help the drawing process.
What is needed is a display in which continuous changes in orientation can be sensed and used to make appropriate changes to the displayed art work and user interface.
Display units also have been described, such as the Fakespace Boom, which can be changed in orientation and the view of an object or image provided by the display also changes. In using such a display the user maintains the display in the same relative orientation to himself and, as a result, such a display typically has not addressed how interface elements behave when the orientation is changed. That is, the art work is rotated but not the display or the user interface.
What is needed is a system that addresses the display of the interface elements as orientation changes.
When a typical computer display, such as the Sharp LC-104TW1 display, containing art work is changed in orientation, such as when it is rotated, the user interface also rotates. Essentially the world and the user interface rotate with the display. For example, when a display is rotated so that the display is upside-down, the user interface, such as a pop-up menu, is also upside-down. This requires the user to use the interface in an upside-down fashion. While this is somewhat of a problem for pop-up menus where the buttons will be upside-down, it is even more of a problem for orientation or direction sensitive interfaces, such as marking menus, where the direction of a stroke made by the user, on an interface which has a defined orientation with respect to the user, makes the item selection. In an upside-down marking menu the user's stroke would have to be in the opposite direction for the same selection as compared to when the menu is right-side-up. As flat panel displays become more popular, the treatment of such displays as if they were a piece of paper, where they are moved, tilted and rotated, in Acme-like desks where an LCD is used, will occur. Because the user interface elements in such cases also rotate, etc. all of the built-in motor memory associated with using paper is lost.
What is needed is a system that allows the user to change the orientation of the display, like the rotatable animation stand, senses the changes in orientation of the display and yet maintains the orientation of the user interface toward the user.
In cases where one draws directly on the screen, such as with a light-pen or stylus, the physical bulk of the monitor preempts easy rotation of the physical drawing surface. In indirect drawing, such as when using a tablet, one can rotate the tablet to some degree, but if the angle is too great, the compatibility of the mapping between the tablet surface and the display of the art work is lost. Attempting to rotate the art work on the display rather than the display itself can be done conceptually, but paint programs in the past have had the problem of aliasing that results when rotating a raster of pixels by anything other than increments of 90 degrees.
What is needed is a system that allows the art work to be rotated without encountering the aliasing problem.
Today the interface with art work can be a collaborative effort. For example, several different people sitting around a single image can make changes to the art work. For example, people gathered around a rotatable light table containing an image of a three-dimensional model or image can all make changes to the image. In such a situation, each person is looking at the image from a different position. Typically each graphic artist has a set of tools they prefer and these are used on the image. Today changing between interfaces responsive to the artist working on the art work is not provided.
What is needed is a system that detects different users and user orientations, and supplies the preferred interface for the users in the proper orientation for the users as a display containing the image changes orientation.